Monthly Archives: November 2017

It’s often been put forward that one of the aims of science teaching is to make students scientifically literate, to ensure that they can read and criticise science in the media, to understand scientific practice and how scientific knowledge has … Continue reading →

Let me begin with an anecdote. The first time I ever really encountered the meta language of grammar was after finishing my degree in English Literature and embarking on a six-week course to qualify… Continued here http://ift.tt/2nfdpcB

Originally posted on Trivium 21c:
Hirsch’s ‘Communal knowledge’ curriculum and aspects of Bruner’s ‘Spiral Curriculum’ are both predicated on the importance of teaching knowledge. Bruner’s might be a controversial choice as he is sometimes seen as quite a ‘progressive’ figure…

Originally posted on must do better…:
There are so many good ideas in education at the moment – knowledge organisers, whole class feedback, multiple-choice questions, low stakes quizzing, dual coding, etc. – it is hard to keep up. I’m on…

Originally posted on primarytimerydotcom:
In my previous blog I explained about how memory works, and how teachers can use strategies from cognitive science such as retrieval practice to promote long term learning. After all, the learned curriculum is the only…

Originally posted on fish64:
I gather some university PGCE tutors are understandably upset when their training of teachers is criticised. I actually enjoyed my PGCE course. Yes – progressive stuff was pushed, but we weren’t forced into it. The conventional…

Originally posted on teaching personally:
I remember the first lesson I ever taught. It was in a typical 1950’s-built school in the suburbs of Norwich. Monday period 1: 3rd year (as it then was) French – and I wasn’t even…

Originally posted on Governing Matters:
I recently tweeted the link to Mark Enser’s article in the Guardian (How can schools use research to better infrom teaching practice?). Ruth Kennedy asked a very good follow on question. Her question and my…